phangtonpower

Actually we're not sure if our bird is a boy or a girl. There is no way for our bird to get tested here where I live. I think it's a girl, but I always say he

Also recently birdie loves to fly to one of our shelves and looks inside to explore. I know it's a nesting instinct, and Peko wants to probably nest at this age. I was thinking of building a nesting box to put on the side of his cage, but I don't know if it's a good idea. Any Suggestions?

Thanks for the reply Inara. Yes we usually train him during his time out at night. Sometimes we try change things during the day when we let him out. We kind of gave him different treats when he would do something we liked, but he's gotten tired of everything we've given him. First it was sunflower seeds, then slivered almonds, then peanuts, but now he wont have any of it I totally understand that each bird is an individual and that's the excuse that I given my wife. I was just wondering how others deal with birds that don't want to listen. All I know is that I'm not giving up. Here's a couple pictures. You can kind of see his cage in the background. Here he is outside. He doesn't like the harness much and I don't think he really likes being outside either, but we try to bring him outside as often as possible.

Actually I do have this gorilla key chain that I use to scare him when he goes somewhere we don't want him too I know they love attention and when we are busy and he is in his cage we still try and interact with him by talking to him, playing peak a boo, and just even looking at him, but when he's out, he wants to go every where except for where his perches are and to us He's also bilingual

His name is Peru, shortened to Peko. I have no Idea why they named him Peru when they are supposed to be from Africa Thank you guys for the replies, but please read the OP and my second post again. First off I never said that we ONLY let Peko out for 5 to 10 mins a day! We let him out everyday for showers, outside in a harness when the weather is nice, and an hour before bed time, which he has separate cage for. Don't think I would have been able to harness train him if I only let him out for 5 to 10 mins a day. we let him out for 5 to 10 mins in between the usual time he is out a few times a day. Also I never said that he lives in 12"x12" cage. I said that it cost about a $1000, slight exaggeration, for that sized cage. We actually ordered a 4'x2'x2' cage for him from the states and with it's 200 pound freight weight, it was still cheaper than any of the offerings they have here. I had to fight for that cage! It was also not my decision to buy the bird. Me and my wife argue all the time because her family decided to buy the bird and nobody will help out and I have become the care taker. We are the only 2 that are able to handle him. Everybody else is scared. This is the attitude of Japanese with their pets. Once the cuteness wears off, it's off to the corner to be forgotten. That's why when we thought of re-homing him, it made us really depressed because who ever cares for him would probably never let him out and have him in a small 12"x12" cage!　For gods sake they still have their dogs outside on short leashes all day here! Anyway the point of the post was advice on how we can keep him interested in things we taught him instead of just watching him fly to different spots of the room and me retrieving him. We have perches and ropes around the room, but he would rather fly to spots that we would rather not have fly too. For a while we were teaching recall training, colors and shapes, fetch, but now he wont have any of it

I know it sounds like I want to keep him in his cage all day long, but it's not the case. I would love for him to be out most of the time I'm home, but me and my wife are usually doing things during the day that keep us busy to be able to watch him so he doesn't get into trouble. when we do have time to rest we are never more than 5 feet away from his cage and we I try to interact with him as much as we can. And time out of the cage is not strict to what I described above, but if we let him out, it can only be no more 5-10 mins at a time several times a day. As far as chewing, I know that's what birdie like to do, but I don't want it to be the main focus when I can spend more time with him outside of the cage. Also I live in Japan where luxurious like bird sitters or even proper avian vets don't exists. I had to order a proper sized cage from the states as 12"x12" is over $1000 over here. I have really thought about giving him to a better home, but I don't trust people here as far as animal care goes and we really do love him so much! I contemplated moving back to the states with him to be around my family all day where people can interact with him , but there is ban from birds from Japan entering the US. Japanese would probably not even care to ask these kind of questions because once the cuteness of having an pet/friend wears off, they are set in corner of the house to be forgotten. Please take these things into consideration as living in different countries, sometimes we can't take care of our non human friends like we would like to back home.

My birdie doesn't want to do anything that we have taught it. I spend all day with him (same room), but he/she is in it's cage most of the day except for showers, outside in a harness for a little bit everyday, and an hour out of his cage before bedtime. The reason birdie is not out more is because I have no idea when my schedule is going to change where I'm not home most of the day and I want him to get used to being in there if I can't be around. As far as that goes, he seems pretty content in his cage when me and my wife aren't home. He will be 4 this year. Until recently, I was able to take him out during his hour before bed and play games like fetch, recall training, etc. Now he doesn't want to do any of the things we were working on with him. Now he just flies around to different areas of the room that we spend our time in chewing everything. Of course I keep an eye on birdie and remove him from the spot where he goes, but it gets tiring. I would love any advice on how to keep birdie interested in things that we have taught it.

Thanks for the info.

My CAG had an accident a while a go where his talon broke off. We have no idea how. He was walking towards me bleeding! He lost a lot of blood, brought him to the vet, and he was fine. Anyway, it's grown back out, but it's growing weird. Instead of curving down, it's starting to curve towards his leg. I know I have to clip it, but will it continue to grow this way? Anyway to fix it?

I live in a big 80 year old house that's hard to keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer. To top it off I live on the westcoast where it snows a lot and is way hotter in the summer than the eastcoast:( Anyway my Girlfriends been reading a lot of Japanese blogs and it seems a lot of people use vinyl It just goes to show that different countries care for their pets differently. Japan is a country where you still see their dogs roped up on a five foot of line all day I do agree though that vinyl is bad as it has a smell on it's own. Maybe I'll just cover half the cage with a heavy blanket and a infrared heater. Do you guys think if I get one decently powerful one it would be ok to place on top of the cage? That way if it's too hot where it is, our little birdy has a place to find in the cage that is comfy??

I didn't think about that! Thanks.

The problem with using a heater like that is that the room we have him in is pretty big. The kerosene heater really didn't warm up the room very much either. Really the only option is to cover the cage with clear vinyl, so he can still see out, and try to warm up the inside of the cage. Most Japanese use clear acrylic cages in winter, but like I said, the biggest you can find is a 2 foot cubed box What I'm trying to figure out is what a good wattage is for his cage and the distance I should keep it at. It's hard to experiment in this country because once something is open you can't return it. Last year, when we first got him, we built a small fort covered in blankets and had him on his play stand with a small space heater under to keep him warm. It worked well. He was clipped then and I was always around him to make sure he was ok, but it was dark and gloomy except for the glow of the heater

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm really only trying to find a way to heat up his cage. I may look into it a little more though. I think we have those here, but aren't the ones I posted pretty much the same thing except designed for birds? If they are pretty much the same thing, how many watts would you recommend to heat a 5 foot by 3 foot by 2 foot cage either? Thanks

Hi, I have a CAG and I'm wondering how to keep it warm in the winter. Here's the problem. I live in Japan and it gets really cold. Usually the coldest it gets is 0 degrees Celsius. Sometimes -3 at the coldest. The houses here have really weak insulation and no central heating. Most people use kerosene heaters, which I understand is a no no. I did use one last year, but it was a good distance away and only had it on sometimes. I would also turn on vent fan just in case. I have no idea why they even sell exotic birds here since they don't really have a market to care for them. The biggest cage I could fine here was 2'X2', so I actually ordered a cage in America about 5'X3'X2', but I have no idea how I'm gonna keep the bird warm. Here are a few links to the kinds of heating they use here for birds. http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/heaven/item/395402/ http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/cap/item/10001705/ Which of two would you suggest? and what is a good wattage to look for to heat up the cage? Besides a heater, we were also gonna cover the top, sides and back with vinyl. Money is kinda tight as well since the cage cost twice as much as it should have because of shipping. I would buy a small space heater, but I've heard that some companies use teflon and Japan is not good at giving that kinda info even if you call the company Thanks in advanced.